Welcome to the CFO Thought Leader podcastOur mission is to bring you personal firsthand accounts of CFOs who are driving change within their organizations.CFO Thought Leader is all about inspiring finance professionals to take a leadership leap. We know that by hearing about the successes — (and yes, also the failures) — of others, today’s CFOs can more confidently chart their own leadership paths across the enterprise and take inspired action.
Category Archives: Podcasts
489: The Elements of Transformation | Ted Myles, CFO, AMAG Pharmaceuticals
When Ted Myles is asked to reflect back on his early efforts to land a CFO role - he arguably sounds a little bit like a safecracker. "Breaking into the c-suite that first time is always hard," he explains. "I went in and would continue to get beat out by a sitting CFO," says Myles,…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:45:04)
488: When Shareholder Dividends Equal Fewer Going Hungry | Chris Whitfield, CFO, MANA Nutrition
From the moment Chris Whitfield stepped into the CFO office at MANA Nutrition, it was clear to him that various snags in the organization’s information flows were keeping the not-for-profit’s board members on edge. To remedy the situation, Whitfield reformulated the not-for-profit’s approach to reporting, beginning with a beefier balance sheet instead of the slimmed…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:44:51)
487: Putting Your Organization on an Even Keel | Robin Gantt, CFO, Northwest Pipe Company
It's unlikely that this is the first sentence ever to include the phrase "even-keeled" alongside the name Robin Gantt, but this is a pairing that bears repeating here to reveal not only an obvious character trait of our latest guest, but also one that frequently sets apart CFO leadership at large. Gantt, already a seasoned…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:35:53)
486: Counting Your Customer Success Milestones | Matthew Fahy, CFO, FinFit
When Matt Fahy identifies the opportunities that have punctuated his finance career, he credits subscription revenue models as having played a recurring role along the trajectory that has led to multiple CFO tours of duty. For Fahy, it all began with a move to New York City, where he was soon serving one of the…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:46:46)
485: Finding a Cure for the IPO Blues | Mark Lee, CFO, Forge
Before joining Goldman Sachs back in the late 1980s, Mark Lee was a finance manager at Hewlett-Packard Co. Today, Lee fondly recalls being mentored by a senior controller while situated deep inside the technology behemoth's computer support division. The finance executive, explains Lee, viewed controllership as a strategic role where executives could acquire and build their…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:35:58)
484: Milestones for a CFO Barn Raiser | Andrew Guggenhime, CFO, Dermira
When asked about his arrival at Dermira, CFO Andrew Guggenhime explains: "I was the 22nd employee, and today we have over 300." Along the way, the company executed an IPO, reached a market value of $1 billion, received FDA approval for its first medication (last June), and brought the offering to market (last October). Not…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:29:59)
483: Making FP&A a Road Map for the Business | Glynis Bryan, CFO, Insight Enterprises, Inc.
There was a time when Glynis Bryan imagined herself someday retiring from Ryder System, Inc.—a company she entered as an intern and would later exit as a senior vice president. Along the way, she credits the transportation logistics giant with having exposed her to complex M&A transactions and innovative capital structures—two areas that she believes…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:43:17)
482: When Opportunities Reveal Themselves | Wilco Groenhuysen, CFO, Novocure, Inc.
Near the end of our discussion with CFO Wilco Groenhuysen, he recommends a book while confiding: "It's not a great book—but it has a big lesson." "Opportunities exist for only for a short time. So when you see an opportunity, grab it and make the best of it," says Groenhuysen, revealing the big lesson and…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:28:36)
481: Achieving a Milestone Transaction | Mike Myshrall, CFO, Cyren
Of all the finance milestones that CFO Mike Myshrall uses to illustrate Cyren's appetite for success, perhaps few are more enlightening than the one involving private equity titan Warburg Pincus. Two years ago, Warburg Pincus offered to buy out Cyren shareholders at a 35 percent premium over the current price of their shares. However, unwilling…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:37:48)
480: Bringing a Metric to Life | Mark Patrick, CFO, Syngenta
Sometime in the next three to six months, Syngenta AG, a Swiss-based agribusiness company, is expecting to welcome a clan of ambitious offspring. Months, even years in the making, these fruit from a forward-looking group are born from a cross-functional team—one tasked with helping the $13.5 billion enterprise correctly measure its expansive sustainability initiatives. To be…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:37:26)
Other Podcasts From Middle-Market Media
